You before them
by MrsCatherineWinter
Summary: What if after the fight following Snoke's death Rey had approached Kylo Ren first before worrying about the Resistance fleet? A wholesome Reylo story.


_First of all, I have to admit that I am not a native speaker, so there might be a few mistakes, but if you were so kind as to write me a message to tell me of them, I would immediately correct them._

_Disclaimer: All characters belong to LucasFilm and Disney and I don't earn my money with these stories._

**You before them**

I couldn't believe that he had killed Snoke. That he had had the strength to defy his master who had made him what he was. I had hoped that Ben would spare me but I had not been sure when I had looked into his determined face.

Now we stood opposite each other, each with our own lightswords ignited, heavy tension in the air. But I could feel that he wouldn't attack me, and I sent him the same message through our link. The connection was still there although Snoke was dead, which inclined me to think that the Supreme Leader had lied.

Ben and I peered at each other before we turned around and faced the Praeditorian Guards that started to attack us.

It felt good to once fight with him instead of always against him and I realised after just some seconds that we made an excellent team, never standing in the way of the other but always helping or protecting. At one point we even touched (I used his hip for balance) and it felt natural and reminded me of our touching fingers back on Ahch-To only a few hours prior.

After I had killed my last opponent, I looked at Ben and saw that he had lost his lightsaber and a Guard was strangling him with his spear.

"Ben!" I shouted and threw my own lightsaber (well Luke's) towards him.

He caught it casually, ignited it, and the Guard behind him fell down, dead.

Suddenly the fight was over, grave silence fell over the room. For me, these short minutes in which Ben and I had stood on the same side for once felt like a dream, and now reality was catching up with us. Our gazes met in anticipation. What would happen now?

I didn't _think_ when I slowly staggered towards him, I just _felt_, and my feelings told me that I wanted to be near him and know his touch in the solid reality (and not only through the Force) and show him with all my heart that I needed him, that I cared for him, that I had even begun to love him – despite everything he had done.

"Ben," I whispered when I stood closely in front of him. Then I put my arms around him and hugged his torso while laying my cheek on his chest.

He tensed at my touch but after a while he raised his arms and put them cautiously around me.

It broke my heart to see him so uncomfortable with such a gentle gesture, for it meant that it had been a long time since he had received it.

I smiled into his tunic while tears streamed silently over my cheeks, noticing for the first time his incredible scent. "Ben," I whispered again, reminding him of his true nature.

It made him embrace me tighter and he put his chin on my head. "Rey," he whispered back and I knew that he was feeling as I was, without even having to check via our connection.

We stayed like this for a while until I suddenly remembered the Resistance fleet that was currently under attack by the First Order. I blushed in shame and anxiety. How could I forget about my dearest friends? About Finn? About Leia?

Gently I loosened myself from the hug, while still our hands touched the arms of the other and looked him in the eyes; they showed some warmth for the first time, but still so much pain and fear.

"Ben, we can still save the fleet," I began, trying to stay calm, and faced the magnifying glass that showed more and more transports in flames. "You have the power to stop all of this."

I could feel his turn towards anger at once, but he didn't shout when he replied: "It's time to let old things die. Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi, the rebels. Let it all die. Rey, I want you to join me. We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy."

It was as if someone had poured a bucket full of icy water over my head when I heard his words, but I didn't give up. "Ben," I told him firmly. "Ben, look at me." I put my hands on his cheeks and he stared into my eyes. "There is another way."

"You're still holding on," he told me and sounded angry. "Let go! Do you want to know the truth about your parents? Or have you always known the truth? Say it."

I gulped, while tears streamed into my eyes.

"Say it," he urged me, now full of compassion instead of anger.

"They were nobody," I finally admitted, and it felt at the same time liberating to utter my worst fears out loud and absolutely painful.

"They were filthy junk traders," he continued mercilessly, "who sold you off for drinking money. They're dead in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert."

Now that the truth was finally out, I started to let go of my tears as well. I tried to hide them, but then I suddenly felt his arms around me once more and he gently hugged me against his chest, while stroking over my hair. The mighty Kylo Ren was comforting me – and I started to sob uncontrollably into his tunic.

He let me, only stroking and holding me, and it felt good to have someone you can share your pain with.

"You have no place in this story, " he told me in a low voice when I started to compose myself again. "You come from nothing. You are nothing."

I wanted to move away from him, insulted and hurt by his words, when he softly spoke:

"But not to me. To me you are everything. Join me. Please." The last word was whispered heartbrokenly, and I looked at him with all my love I could gather for him.

"Ben, I want to join you," I insisted and I hoped he could feel my sincerity through our bond. I cupped his cheek and stroked with my thumb over it, feeling the scar I inflicted on his face. "But I can't join you here. Come with me," I offered him, "and I will still have joined you."

He looked at me warily, considering if I was lying; it broke my heart for the second time. Apparently, he couldn't understand why I would love him, so I had to show him.

Slowly I raised my head higher, his was already leaning towards mine because of our height difference, and finally, I pressed my lips gently on his.

He gasped in shock at the first touch, but soon he pressed his lips further against mine, gentle and forceful at the same time – balance.

When we broke the kiss, we stared at each other unsurely, until I smiled and stroked through his wavy hair in an affectionate way.

"Come with me," I pleaded once more and waited tensely for his answer. Before he, however, had the chance to open his mouth, a violent wave shook the Supremacy which made Ben and me fall to the ground.

A moment later, when the shock wave of whatever had hit the ship had passed, I realised I was lying on top of Ben, with his arms protectively around me, and our noses almost touching. I looked into his eyes and saw something new in them: desire, love, protection – and suddenly I felt home. I wanted to kiss him once more but I feared that I would not have been able to stop after what I had detected in his eyes, so instead I rolled off of him, and we stood up.

"What was that?" I asked shaken.

Ben stared at the window behind me, his eyes wide in fear.

I turned around and saw half of the Supremacy dissected from the rest and up in flames. Before I could utter anything, Ben took my hand and rushed with me to the end of the room.

"We need to flee," he panted and sounded afraid.

I myself wanted to go as soon as possible before the explosions made their way towards us.

"Here," Ben announced and opened a door which led into an escape pod.

I climbed inside, he directly behind me, closing the door and typing something into the computer before the pod jumped out of the hangar and into the universe.

We stared out of the small window and saw how the fire on the Supremacy started to engulf the whole ship until it was totally destroyed.

I leaned towards Ben next to me, glad that we had made it in time and that we were together, and he laid his arm around me.

"What now?" he wanted to know and sounded afraid.

I couldn't blame him, I was uncertain myself. But at least I knew how to continue – for now. "First I'm going to contact Chewie to get us out of here." I send our position to the Wookie and only a minute later, the Millennium Falcon turned up.

Ben seemed uncomfortable when we entered his father's ship, so I took his hand into mine and stroked with my thumb over his hand's back.

Chewbacca didn't seem happy when he laid eyes on the murderer of his best friend. He roared in pain and anger and headed quickly towards Ben. But before he could lay one paw on him, I stepped into his way.

"Leave him, please."

The Wookie stared at me angrily.

"I'll explain later, now we need to help our troops."

Finally, Chewie agreed begrudgingly, and we went into the cockpit. "What happened?" he wanted to know, and I told him the previous events in a few sentences. He then told us that the largest Resistance ship had flown into the Supremacy to destroy it.

"Rey."

I turned around and saw Ben's anxious face. "What is it?" I asked half-heartedly, for I was already starting the Millennium Falcon to fly to the small white planet where our friends would need our help – Crait.

"I don't know if I can do this," he whispered and stood there in the door of the pilot room, looking absolutely forlorn. Well, he had just kind of left the First Order with me, maybe only for now, maybe forever – he probably didn't even know himself, yet.

"Ben," I smiled at him understandingly. "It's okay. If you don't want to fight with us, then at least don't fight against us. Just sit down somewhere and wait until everything is over. Take yourself out of the equation."

He nodded, apparently content with this option, and left the cockpit.

The next half an hour I was too distracted by the Battle of Crait to even think of Ben. It didn't look good for our friends, they were enclosed in a cave while the full force of the First Order was on them. I had no idea who lead them, for Snoke was dead and Kylo Ren with me, but it didn't matter. Chewie and I tried to distract the TIEs and after a while it finally worked: they followed us instead of keeping on shooting at the brave fighters on the ground. We lured them into a small cave and while Chewie flew the Millennium Falcon gracefully, I tried to shoot the smaller ships out of the sky.

It worked at first but suddenly my shooter was stuck. "Kriff!" I shouted. Panicked I tried to free the shooter but it stayed stuck. When I looked out of the window, I saw one of the fighters charge.

"Chewie!" I cried. "We need to get out of here!"

The Wookie replied that it was too narrow for him to navigate anywhere else.

And then the fighter released its beam of light, racing at us, and I had no power to stop it. Instinctively, I closed my eyes and waited for the hit, waited for death to be more precise and hoped that it would be quick.

But nothing happened.

Slowly I opened my eyes again and saw the fighter destroyed in a cloud of smoke. "How…?" I started the question when Ben ran into the room.

"Rey! Are you alright?"

I nodded. "Did you do that?" I pointed towards the small cloud as Chewie made his way out of the tunnel system and back into the sky.

"I had to," he smirked. "It would have killed me, too."

I rolled my eyes. It wouldn't hurt him to admit that he had saved me as well…

"What now?" he asked as I went back to the cockpit.

"I don't think we can win this fight," I replied while taking over the controls from Chewie. "The First Order is too strong."

"So, we flee?" Ben guessed.

Now it was my time to smirk. "Yes, but we take the Resistance with us." I showed him my beacon. When he still looked confused, I explained further: "Your mother has the other one."

There he understood and his face became anxious once more.

"It'll be alright," I reassured him and quickly squeezed his hand before I concentrated again on the Millennium Falcon.

For a while, we scanned the planet for the signal of Leia's beacon until the signal came from directly under us. "But there is no one," I mumbled. When I detected a bunch of glassy foxes, I shouted: "There!" and Chewie landed the ship.

I quickly exited the Millennium Falcon and searched for them, Ben directly behind me. Maybe he was afraid to stay alone with an angry Wookie…

Since I couldn't see them, I closed my eyes to feel them through the Force. At first, there was only Ben, a puddle of grey with all his conflicting emotions – anger, fear, nervousness, but also love and joyful anticipation at seeing his mother again – then I felt a group of other people who seemed to be scared of something. I tried to read their minds and realised that they were trapped in the cave.

"We need to lift the rocks," Ben stated, having apparently drawn the same conclusion as I.

I nodded and together we used the Force to lift all the rocks. In the end, it was all about lifting rocks after all, I smiled, thinking of Luke.

When the rocks were out of the way, someone raced into me and a second later I noticed that it was Finn. He was alive and well and he was still my friend.

When I returned his embrace with tears of joy in my eyes, I could feel waves of jealousy and anger coming from Ben, so I quickly loosened myself from Finn as not to provoke any rashness from the hopefully former Kylo Ren…

"What's the meaning of this?" a man shouted accusingly at us, pointing his gun directly at Ben.

I feared for him for a moment but then I reminded myself that such a weapon was no match for a mighty Force user like Ben.

"Let's first escape and then ask questions," Leia announced, looking confused at her son standing there next to me but also seemed happy.

"We can't just allow him to come with us!" the man intervened with hate in his voice. "He is the enemy!"

"He is also my son, Poe," Leia reprimanded the man sternly. "And I am sure that there is no danger, since he is here with Rey, am I right?"

The last bit was directed at me, so I nodded quickly. "Yes, there is no danger from Ben."

"I don't believe that," the man, Poe, spat, clicking his weapon as if ready to shoot at any minute.

"Poe, I'm warning you," Leia hissed threateningly. "Stand down. That is an order."

Poe didn't move but put his index finger firmly on the trigger.

Suddenly Leia shouted so fiercely I got scared – I had never seen her so uncalm before… "Poe Javl Dameron! If you shoot my son, you will regret the day you were born!"

Apparently, Poe was just as shocked as I, for he lowered his gun. "Fine," he grunted through gritted teeth. "But I will keep a close eye on him."

"As we will all, I'm sure," Leia admitted. "Now let's get out of here before the First Order finds us and tracks us again."

Quickly the rest of the resistance as well as Ben and I entered the Millennium Falcon and a moment later Chewie had us flying into hyper space – and out of the enemy's clutches.

There was a common breath of relief as the stars flew quickly past us and soon everyone settled into a seat to relax for a while or mourn the losses of the battle.

I was watching Finn as he laid a blanket over a wounded young woman, as Ben stepped closer to me.

"Are you alright?" he wanted to know worriedly.

I nodded when Leia came to us and spoke. "It's good to see you again, my son." She looked up at him with a hopeful face.

Ben's features contorted. "Am I still your son?" he whispered and not for the first time I saw the young, hurt teenager in him before he became Kylo Ren.

"You'll always be my son," Leia replied smiling but with tears in her eyes and pulled Ben into a firm hug. "I'd always known there was light in yourself."

He seemed shocked for a moment but then returned the embrace and blinked a few times. "I'm so sorry, mother," he whispered almost inaudibly. "About everything, about… father…"

But Leia had heard him. "I know," she replied forgiving.

Now he blinked even harder.

It was a marvellous sight to see the fearsome Kylo Ren in the loving arms of his mother and I hoped that this picture would help to overcome the Resistance's grudges against him. Yes, he had done awful things, but in the end, he had killed Snoke and had left the First Order with me. That had to count!

Finally, with a calming breath, he loosened the hug and gazed at me and his mother. "What now?" he asked once more

"I believe, you are part of the Resistance now," I replied smirking. "If that's alright with you, of course." I quickly continued in a more serious tone. I didn't want to pressure him into something that he didn't want. It would only end in disaster.

"It is strange, I must admit that," he replied after a moment. Then he took my hand gently into his and said in earnest: "But I want to be with you, and I believe you'll only have me if I leave the First Order -"

"Correct," I confirmed.

"- so, here I am."

"Well, that settles it then," I smiled.

"Welcome to the Resistance," Leia beamed. "Of course, I have to persuade the others to let you join but I am an excellent persuader. And now I'd like to know what has happened to you both in the last time."

We sat down with her in a quiet corner and told her about the last few days and the last 24 hours in particular.

Suddenly we all three went stiff when a Force presence touched our owns.

"Luke," Leia whispered her brother's name and smiled. "He's always with us, no matter the galaxies between us."

I looked at Ben and brushed with my thumb over his hand.

He turned his hand and squeezed mine, offering me a quick smile before focusing on his mother talking again. And in that moment, I knew that in the end, everything would be alright.

THE END.


End file.
